Sophie♡

Might write some reviews, and/or make some gifs, idk. I'll try to do kdramas for the moment uwu

[pathologising]

vulnerability is so important but I will not be partaking in it

[pxhi]

I've just found out that there's a lot of people who didn't like Do you like Brahms, and of course that's okay, but I think maybe this has to do with if you like it or not:

The drama revolves basically around liking something and losing direction about it, and thinking you don't like it anymore, or loving something very much, but not being good at it. And it just follows the decisions of people who don't know what to do now, which path will make me happy?

I think I liked it because of the next reasons

I'm very close to artistic stuff, and even if I'm not a musician, artistic fields tend to have many similarities. I've been going to ballet classes since I have memory, maybe 4-5 years, and when I was around 16 a got diagnosed with a chronic condition on my knees. At that time I was thinking of majoring in dance, so of course I that crashed me. I kept dancing, and one day I started wondering if I really liked doing it, or if I was good enough, and i wanted to drop out really bad. I kept dancing, but eventually I got into uni (my major is not art related) and the circle repeated again, I had to decide if I was going to keep dancing or not (as a hobby) and many things regard that thing. The teachers in the drama were very realistic to me too because of the same matter, ballet people usually are not the kindest, and they reminded me of people I've met and how I got mentally hurt just by doing something I loved.

The music. Because of what I stated (and well, because I've always liked it) classical music has a very soft spot in my heart, and I enjoy it very much. I have a violin, although I never learned how to make it sound nicely. And I never learned how to play piano either, my hands just can't work differently. So I really like to watch people playing instruments (I cant play bass but c'mon, violins and cellos are a whole different level for me), even if it's just acting. As I don't know how to play, if the acting is nice I can buy it easily.

The love...figure.. it isn't even a triangle, it's like a triangle and a square connected lol. I have, sadly, taken part on something like the tangle the characters had, so I related to that too.

The characters were soft. I enjoyed watching a drama without bullets and bad green screens and people yelling at each other and evil mothers in law. Like, why does everything has to be like that? Can't I have something peaceful and healing from time to time?

Okay, that was it. I you're reading this, thanks for coming to my Sophie Talk💗

[fortunamiau-deactivated20240706]

i haven't even finished do you like brahms yet and i can say with a 100% certainty that is one of the most gorgeous and well paced shows i have watched and i dread every minute i am closer to its end. the characters can be frustrating and some kdrama tropes are present, but there's something in its dialogue at times, or in the leads' small and awkward love, that i find so compelling. there's something about songah's hesitance, the fact that she puts so much effort into every practice but she's incapable of shining like her peers, and how that visibly shatters her own confidence as a musician. or how joonyoung deems his talent a curse, how the environment in which he grew up turned a passion he used to love into yet another turning wheel in a complex and toxic industry, how he regrets his own success. jungkyung who loves music but hates the meaning it has in her life. the secondary couples that probably deserved a better writing but it doesn't matter because i still find them entertaining enough. all of it just feels real, incredibly grounded. i wasn't expecting the show to be this good.

[pxhi]

totally agree

[pxhi]

Do you like Brahms?

(spoilers below the cut)

I just finished Do you like Brahms and I loved it, I think it is a great drama. I’ll give it a 9.8 out of ten, why? Just because I was so immersed in the musical, romance part, that business affairs were a little boring to me (although those scenes play a big role in the emotions and everything itself. But you know, I am a little picky).

About the cast, I have nothing bad to say about them, they all felt just right, if I am making sense. I do not think they overacted (except maybe for one at the very end, but I think it was part of the character), and they all had a very soft air about them.

Now, about the drama itself. I think it got positioned between my top three. I don’t even know where to start. I think the plot is very simple in the sense that it feels really casual; the characters live a very normal life (outside the fact that they are musicians), and you can project yourself in at least one character very easily because they feel like real people; the do exactly what you’d like to do with your friends, and they feel exactly as anyone would feel. Everything in the drama had a very soft feeling, if I had to put a colour palette on it, I would pick a light brown-light pink-cream, pastel. And here it’s the funny thing and why I liked this drama so much: although I felt so serene and at peace watching it, there were times when it tugged my heart strings, I literally felt my heart ache, my heart and my soul (sometimes of grief, and sometimes of anxiety so watch out there). There were scenes I watched sobbing, and scenes I had to pause because my crying wouldn’t let me see the screen. It made me feel ache, it made me feel love, and get upset, and then let go and be happy. I do not know what to say without dwelling too much on it, as I said, it felt really casual so there’s nothing magical about these general parts, anyway, I recommend it if you haven’t watched it yet.

SPOILER ALERT

Now, a list of little things I really, really loved.

The first time this made me cry was when Joon Young played Moonlight Sonata / Happy Birthday to Song Ah. At first I wanted to slap him for playing that when she was sad, especially after she told him to stop, but when he mixed it up with the Happy Birthday I thought “Oh.”, and I had this urgent feeling like “He needs a reward”.

When he changed Träumerei for Chopin at the talk event. You see, I felt like he saved the day, event though he and Song Ah were not a thing, I think it was the right thing to do. Song Ah seemed really excited about hearing it until she saw Jung Kyung, and then when I learned that actually she asked for Joon Young to play it, I hoped he would play Moonlight Sonata. Jung Kyung did not know it was a request, and it would have looked like something extremely different than what it actually was. Maybe Joon Young did not change the piece for this exact reason, but I am glad he did, I think it was the best for the three of them.

When he decided to put away the black handkerchief and asked Song Ah to gift him hers, and said he’d buy her a new one, even if she had more, because it was something special, and I think so too. It is a big thing exchange things that are already meaningful to you, so you know it will be something twice as meaningful to your loved one if it’s something that will remind them of you. That aside, he was telling her that he was not interested at all in Jung Kyung and his memories about her now.

The umbrella and its exchanges.

I mean, do I even have to say it? 

I loved that Joon Young always offered Song Ah to play for her, well, maybe not always, but he always felt like doing it, and the only reason of why it was just that, because he’d really like to do it. And I double loved it when he asked her again after they broke up, and she accepted, I don’t know, I had little hearts fluttering all around in my head.

Song Ah setting her boundaries. She was more than a polite or shy person, she is the kind of person that puts others first, but then there are times when she says “No more” and speaks what she has to say. Not everyone does that.

When Jung Kyung and Song Ah don’t let their romantic interests interfere with their music and other situations.

And to wrap it up:

[pxhi]

Strangers from hell / Hell is other people

Rate. 100/10  ~~~  (There’s a spoiler alert after the actors review)

I must say I LOVED all the actors work; they were so good, I think they did an amazing job portraying their characters (especially Park Jong-Hwan). This is the first time for me watching the work of Im Si-Wan and to be honest I was very pleased. At first, I thought that compared to the characters of Eden studio it was very poor, like a “normal” acting, we saw him getting scared and pissed at times but there wasn’t anything where you could say like “AH SHIT, that’s a good actor”, BUT as the drama went on I realized how a great actor he is, especially the last episode I was like *wtf wahh* so, yeah, GREAT.

Lee Dong-Wook, ah, my Wookie baby uwu, I haven’t seen many kdramas (just 14, to be precise; I started about a month ago) but I *loved* the ones with LDW on them (Life, Goblin and Touch your heart). He gave me this inner impression that is an amazing actor just with his eyes and facial expressions, I felt like he didn’t change his corporal movements on this 3 dramas, but he could perform feelings and emotions very well with just his face so I was amazed. AND HERE, wah, he was A W E S O M E, the smile he created for Moon-Jo was SO fuckin creepy while his whole body felt at peace. It felt like Dong-Wook can portray really scary characters as an easy job, wah. 

Park Jong-Hwan was really good with his acting too, since the first time I saw the giggly twin it didn’t feel like acting to me, I remember that at a moment I thought “I feel like he is a real person”. I remember that I actually appreciated the work of Jong-Hwan on this scene where Moon-Jo is threatening the people in the 4th floor after killing one of them and I thought “this whole time I’ve been feeling that these two were real and different people, who tf is this actor”. Really nice job. -I’ll stop here with the actors because it went too long, sorry :(

As for the plot, it was p e r f e c t. I think it didn’t have any holes in the story like many thrillers with serial killers have. Although it bothers me this scene when the newcomer borrows the charger from Jong-Woo¿¿ and I also thought that he had something weird when he ate the meat and said he liked it… but anyway, it’s very well written AND wrapped up at the end, wahh.

                         (SPOILER ALERT)

Keep reading

[pxhi]

[pxhi]

[pxhi]

Suppose that we are dating

[pxhi]

Cute Haeng-ah bonus

[pxhi]

Bonus

[pxhi]

Strangers from hell / Hell is other people

Rate. 100/10  ~~~  (There’s a spoiler alert after the actors review)

I must say I LOVED all the actors work; they were so good, I think they did an amazing job portraying their characters (especially Park Jong-Hwan). This is the first time for me watching the work of Im Si-Wan and to be honest I was very pleased. At first, I thought that compared to the characters of Eden studio it was very poor, like a “normal” acting, we saw him getting scared and pissed at times but there wasn’t anything where you could say like “AH SHIT, that’s a good actor”, BUT as the drama went on I realized how a great actor he is, especially the last episode I was like *wtf wahh* so, yeah, GREAT.

Lee Dong-Wook, ah, my Wookie baby uwu, I haven’t seen many kdramas (just 14, to be precise; I started about a month ago) but I *loved* the ones with LDW on them (Life, Goblin and Touch your heart). He gave me this inner impression that is an amazing actor just with his eyes and facial expressions, I felt like he didn’t change his corporal movements on this 3 dramas, but he could perform feelings and emotions very well with just his face so I was amazed. AND HERE, wah, he was A W E S O M E, the smile he created for Moon-Jo was SO fuckin creepy while his whole body felt at peace. It felt like Dong-Wook can portray really scary characters as an easy job, wah. 

Park Jong-Hwan was really good with his acting too, since the first time I saw the giggly twin it didn’t feel like acting to me, I remember that at a moment I thought “I feel like he is a real person”. I remember that I actually appreciated the work of Jong-Hwan on this scene where Moon-Jo is threatening the people in the 4th floor after killing one of them and I thought “this whole time I’ve been feeling that these two were real and different people, who tf is this actor”. Really nice job. -I’ll stop here with the actors because it went too long, sorry :(

As for the plot, it was p e r f e c t. I think it didn’t have any holes in the story like many thrillers with serial killers have. Although it bothers me this scene when the newcomer borrows the charger from Jong-Woo¿¿ and I also thought that he had something weird when he ate the meat and said he liked it… but anyway, it’s very well written AND wrapped up at the end, wahh.

                         (SPOILER ALERT)

The characters’ development was perfect too, as for the timing AND the emotions they were experiencing. I liked how Byeon Deuk-Jong (giggly twin) seemed fearless at the beginning but it changes drastically when MoonJo kills his brother, he was notoriously scared in this scene when MoonJo threatens him asking if he wants to leave too and he replies with “that’s ridiculous. I love what I do, I love this job… so much” DUDE WAS ABOUT TO CRY. And what to say about Jong-woo, I actually believed at some point that he might be able to overcome the whole story nicely, escape from hell and everything but BAAM, there you see him in his clinical bed with all his memories of killing and “finishing” his book, ugh, MoonJo definitely created a fine piece of his art and I think he won’t let it go.

YES I think MoonJo might be alive! At first I had no doubts he “lost” the war (“-” because he knew he was going to win even if he had to die, “honey, now you and I will be together forever”; he knew that the human mind is complicated and Joon-woo will carry him in his thoughts for a loooong time) but then when the police officer (sorry I don’t remember her name) saw him in the elevator I was so confused, I mean, at some point I believed that MoonJo wasn’t human, he was everywhere and always disappeared¿ and let’s not forget that he appeared as shadows too so.. but I decided to believe him human, so I went on and then I saw again the part where JongWoo kills the gang and guess what? When we saw him killing MoonJo, it was all in the officer’s mind. Then when she goes away and we’re back in JongWoo’s mind/memories we see a JongWoo out of his mind and still scared of his creator, yes, we see a dying MoonJo there too, but in the same scene he’s alone hallucinating with MoonJo strangling him¿. Besides, I really can’t think of a reason why the officer could be hallucinating whit MoonJo, every time she saw him, he was actually there. Let’s not forget either that MoonJo has connections in the police and a lot of experience and knowledge about murder and the human body, he knew about sleeping toxins too and actually had them (remember every time the landlady made JongWoo dizzy? And how MoonJo said that JW girlfriend was just sleeping too) so yeah, I really think it’s a possibility, plus, if he survives in the original comic, why can’t he survive here too?

The bromance. I actually don’t agree with this one, a lot of people’re saying this about JongWoo and MoonJo, and I even read that someone said MoonJo wouldn’t dare to kill JongWoo because he said that JW was really special to him. I mean, of course JongWoo was special HE WAS AN EXPERIMENT, and MoonJo had a lot of faith in it. To begin with, I’m sure that Ki-Hyeok (Lee Hyun-Wook) was going to be the successor of Moon-Jo. Ki-Hyeok behaved exactly like MoonJo; he was calm, he stopped the fights for the gang to behave accord the rules and not precipitate, he also had this serene creepy smile that distinguishes the temple of MoonJo from the rest of the studio buddies, even the black long sleeve shirt

I don’t know if this exactly is important but I noticed it and the fact that both of them found scared JongWoo at the same spot which wasn’t tied to the studio, we even heard a lot of characters asking Moon-Jo if Jong-Woo was really going to be the replacement of unit 302 (anyways, I think we had it clear when we had the scene of Ki-Hyeok as a newcomer of the studio).

And I noticed that Moon-Jo had a kind of affection for Ki-Hyeok since his eyes were wet while killing him, maybe he actually had to low his head as we saw because he reached the tear point. So, if Moon-Jo did not hesitate in killing his Ki-Hyeok creation, certainly he could easily do the same if Jong-Woo didn’t turn as he wanted. In conclusion, when Moon-Jo says “Jong-Woo is very special to me” he’s thinking of JW as his prey and potential and better Ki-Hyeok.

Other things I liked very much were the direction details. I especially loved the scenes from above where we could see all the involved characters at the same time, in most of the movies/shows when someone is behind the door they show the person inside, and then the camera goes by the door and show the other one behind, but this had the complete view and that was even more terrifying. And I have to point the fact that every time a character felt trapped he was just surrounded by other people, and it reinforced the meaning of “hell is other people”; they didn’t have chains nor were they in cages or cells, but around smiley creepy people. I also appreciate that there weren’t strange things like pop-up terrifying faces and stuff, horror levels went gradually up on their own as the drama progressed, it was awesome. I have nothing bad to say about the OST either, it’s a really nice one and suited perfectly to the drama, it gave this suspense feeling even when the spectator can imagine what’s going to happen.

The P L O T W I S T S; shit these were nicely done. I wasn’t surprised at all about Dong-Wook character, I actually felt good when he killed Ki-Hyeong because I had this impression that he was like, the head of what happens in the studio (whatever it was it had to be him, I was sure) so after that I thought “yeah, now I’ll get to see you more bby”, wasn’t wrong at all… but:

The twins! I was like *WTF WHY WHERE WHEN WAH*, it was really unexpected for me.

When Jong-Woo had to decide whether to kill his friend or let his girlfriend die, and he went after Moon-Jo, shit, I really thought he was going to kill the poor guy.

The ending – I was kinda impressed with the ending because of the last point, when Jong-Woo decided to fight Moon-Jo it was cleared that Jong-Woo strongly believed that he wasn’t like the studio people, ~my friend is a good person, I can’t kill him- but Moon-Jo? This mtf son of a bitch~ vibes, and then at the very very end he was all messed up because (as MJ said, he enjoyed killing the studio people) he really hated them and that rotted his mind, ugh, nice end wrapping anyway, I was very pleased with it.